"He had a straw hat on, and I had one on, and he said, 'Nice hat, man,'" the drinking partner, Russell Wimberly, told the newspaper. "We got to talking, and he started buying me drinks."

Wimberly said Koppel drank whiskey, and neither man had anything to eat all day.

Wimberly said he and Koppel eventually wound up at the apartment, which belonged to Wimberly's friend. He and the friend, Belinda Caban, told Koppel to sleep it off and later found that he had gotten sick and appeared not to be breathing, the Post said. The two said they called 911.
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